


It's All In the Eyes

by stars_will_fall



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Angels, Demons, Demonstuck, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-05 14:02:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5377892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stars_will_fall/pseuds/stars_will_fall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I put your doll on the bed. You should be more careful dude its pretty torn up.”</p>
<p>He raised a brow at that. “What doll? Cal hasn’t come out of my room like ever.”</p>
<p>“It was in front of the house out on the sidewalk. I figured you dropped it.”</p>
<p>“Weird.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginnings

There was nothing more eerie than a nightclub after closing. The sight of a place that only a few hours ago was filled with people, all moving together, lights warm on their back and music loud in their ears, suddenly silent always discomforted the blonde, and still managed to do this after three years of nightly clean up.

Dirk Strider had come upon the large building, and fresh out of college decided that the place must have been meant for him to find. He’d never had very good grades, and couldn’t imagine finding a solid job that he’d enjoy, so why not buy it? He had a bit of spare money and he and his brother always talked about running a club seeing as they always found themselves working at them growing up. It seemed people knew the two no matter where they drifted. The Strider twin’s reputations as kickass DJ and great bartender were pretty damn solid.

Dirk had taken on another job and more custom orders for robotics while he fixed the place up. It took a while, but eventually Dirk managed to get it up and running. Slowly, crowds trickled in curious about the new place that seemingly popped up over night. Those same crowds returned again and again, bringing more and more people with them each time. It wasn’t long before it became one of the most popular places around, and even three years after opening it kept that title. Dirk had taken a chance, and it paid back in kind. 

He finished straightening up the last of the stuff, never liking to leave the place a mess for the clean up crew. He smiled softly and gave a soft nod as he looked the place over and shut off the last light before grabbing his coat and exiting through the heavy back door, locking it behind him.

It wasn’t unusual for Dirk to be the last to leave. None of his employees had any reason to stay as late as he did. Even Dave headed home a good hour before him, leaving him to walk the few blocks home in the still, dark morning. 

As he shut the door, cold beads of rain dripped lazily from the sky to land in his mess of blonde spikes. He rolled his eyes, brushing a few away as they made a trail down his cheek. “ ‘Course it would be raining.”

He on his twenty minute started home, intent on reaching his bed before the sun rose and ruined his few hours of sleep. He pulled his jacket around him closer as he sloshed through the puddles on the ground, water soaking through his shoes. Great he’d have to wash those later if he remembered. 

He grabbed a treat out of his pocket and lowered his hand down over the beaten up metal fence he passed daily, chuckling when the big, wet tongue of the lonely dog behind it swept it out of his hand. “Mornin’ bud.” The dog barked back and Dirk sighed as he turned the corner, walking only a block more before sliding the light key into his lock and turning it with a satisfying click. 

“I’m home. Thanks for the warning about the rain by the way”

Dave gave a grunt from the couch where he was lying with a movie on, trying and failing like usual to get to sleep at a reasonable time. 

“Didn’t start ’til after I’d already left. I put your doll on the bed. You should be more careful dude its pretty torn up.”

He raised a brow at that. “What doll? Cal hasn’t come out of my room like ever.”

“It was in front of the house out on the sidewalk. I figured you dropped it.”

“Weird.” He shrugged a bit and went to grab a drink before heading to his room. Sure enough, on his bed sat a little plush doll, head lolled to the side as one of its blue button eyes hung loosely from a thread. As Dirk walked over to the bed and set his drink down, it finally lost its balance, falling forward onto its face. 

Dirk picked it up gently noticing the loose stitching along its back and the arm almost torn clean off. 

“You really are pretty beaten up, aren’t you?”

He looked it over. It was an interesting doll, cute in an unnerving sort of way. It was just big enough to fit comfortably in his hands and made out of a soft, slightly worn canvas type fabric. It wore a pair of soft felt pajamas in a blue that matched its two button eyes. To complete it was a messy mop of soft fluffy hair and a slight frown. 

“I’ll have to fix you up in the morning. Stay put.”   
He set the doll down beside his phone on the bedside table and got undressed before going to bed, leaving the doll fixing to when he woke up.


	2. A Bit of a Fixer Upper

It wasn’t long before the sun finally rose, casting a warm orange glow into his room resulting in Dirk’s covers being kicked away from himself in his sleep as he nuzzled his face into his pillows.

He was able to sleep until around five in the afternoon when the cawing of crows woke him. He groaned, throwing his arm over his eyes.   
“Dave.” He called out, voice hoarse from sleep and too quiet for his brother to hear from a room away. “Dave!” He called louder.

There was a thump, likely resulting from Dave falling out of bed in his attempt to get out. The footsteps and opening of his door confirmed that thought as seconds later Dave was in his room.

“Holy shit, what do you want?”

Dirk moved his arm just enough to look at his brother, orange eyes even brighter in the sun that had just began to sink once again in the sky.  
“You’ve got to control your damn birds. Make them stop. I’m trying to sleep.”

Dave’s face fell into a total deadpan as he looked back at the other blonde who still had drool drying on his cheek from his sleep.

“Its your alarm, genius. You didn’t even think to check that before calling me?”

Dirk sat up some, rubbing the drool from his face as he reached over to shut his alarm off. Once the horrible cries of birds had stopped he noticed the doll was gone from his night stand and instead resting comfortably in his arms. He must have pulled it over in his sleep, he thought. He was glad he didn’t tear it up more than it had already been.

Dave left the room with a huff, going to the kitchen to search through their cabinets for any food that may be laying about. 

Dirk yawned and gave the doll in his arms a small squeeze. Geez, everyday he woke up he felt more and more exhausted. He was thankful for his shades always being there to hide the bags under his eyes. He looked down at the little doll, who’s head was leaned back enough that he could see the button eyes clearly looking up at him. He smiled. 

“Alright little guy. Let’s get you all fixed up and find your home. I’m sure someone out there is missing you.”

He got up, pulling a hoodie on and tucking the toy in his pocket before moving to stand on his bed. Reaching up he ran his hand along the ceiling until he felt a spot that felt a bit uneven and pushed up, the door making a soft thump as it fell on the padding that had been put down for it. He pulled himself up into the small space and closed the door once more, latching it so that no one could come up until he was back in his room, not that Dave would anyway. 

A bit of crawling and a trapdoor later, he was in the kitchen, jumping gracefully down from atop the fridge and right beside his brother. The door he had used closed almost as soon as he let it go, leaving just the ceiling there for Dave to see.

Dave jumped, slamming the freezer closed as he dropped the two frozen waffles from his mouth. He punched his twin’s arm hard, picking them back up and taking a bite despite how nasty their kitchen floor was. 

“God dammit! Will you quit doing that? Where the hell do you even come from.”

Dirk grinned and just shrugged. “Magicians never reveal their secrets. Well, I mean there was that one guy, but y’know what I mean” 

He snatched Dave’s other frozen waffle from him and took a bite , reaching around him to grab one of his favorite fizzy, sickly sweet orange drinks.   
“I’m not the lame magician who tells secrets.”

“You’re the lame dweeb carrying a dirty doll around.” 

Dave reached forward and snatched the doll out of his brother’s pocket, causing the torn arm to come off with a clean rip. The doll fell lightly to the ground and Dirk frowned.

“C’mon man, now I’ve got to fix him even more. Don’t be an ass.”

He picked the doll up and Dave handed him the arm back after popping his face with it, earning a glare from his brother.

“Okay, Okay. I’m sorry. Go fix your little doll.”

He got another waffle from the freezer and went to his work room where he had his sewing supplies alongside all of his scrap metal and spare parts.

He cleared his desk off and dug through his thread, finding nothing the same color as the doll. He sighed and chose a light blue figuring it would be the least noticeable.  It didn’t take him long to fix the doll up, reattaching its arm and tightening the strings holding it’s eyes on.

“There you go, man. Looking good”

He ruffled the dolls hair in a way Dave would totally make fun of him for if he had seen him and got up, letting the toy stay on the table as he left the room to go get ready for work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wasn't expecting anyone to read this one, but thanks for all the kudos! If you ever want to message me about updates or anything of the sort, you can find me at so-the-stars-will-fall.tumblr.com. Hope you all have Happy Holidays!


	3. John

It took about an hour for Dirk to get fully showered, dressed and prepared for another long night at work. For a while, he had considered not going in for the day and just staying at home in his wonderful bed. That would be a much better way to spend his night than what went down once he left the apartment and made his way down the familiar sidewalk. 

His night kicked off with his sound equipment being busted, a problem that with the proper tools, only took an hour and a half to fix- an hour and a half of his life wasted on people’s complaints of the lack of music. Once the problem was fixed, many people left him alone, no one quite drunk enough this early in the afternoon to pester the poor DJ.

In the next hour or so he had many people come to him with problems. The chef complained about a broken freezer and the melting of anything they kept in there. A waitress fussed over a broken shoe heel, only to be followed by several others with the same problem, and to top it off as the worst evening ever, Dave had to come over and explain how a shelf fell and several bottles of different alcohol bursted on the floor making a wet, sharp, and costly mess.

Even with the issues, they kept on, only closing up when the last person left promptly after puking on Dirk’s shoes. He sighed, skipping clean up for the night. It isn’t like they could just open back up tomorrow what with all their shit wrecked. He’d have to close up until the freezer was fixed and new shipments of both booze and food made it there. His way home was just as wet and miserable as it had been the night before, and his dog friend was nowhere to be seen.

He stopped to grab a pizza or two from the small place Dave and he had always enjoyed as kids. They were open all night and their greasy gooey pizzas were absolutely to die for. 

He pushed open their apartment door, having kicked off his nasty shoes outside in the hall, something he was sure his neighbors would pitch a fit about. The place was dark, meaning for once, Dave must have gone to bed at a normal time. Of course he would sleep when he brought home food for them. Why wouldn’t he? 

After grabbing a bottle of orange soda from the fridge, Dirk made his way back to his room. He was tired, annoyed, and planning to eat both of the pizzas he bought because fuck Dave for going to bed. His room was as warm and cozy looking as ever when he stepped in and sat down on his bed, setting the pizza beside him.

He grabbed a piece of greasy, pepperoni pizza and laid back against his pillow, closing his eyes as he took a bite. He hummed happily, enjoying the taste. It wasn’t until he heard a snicker he knew anything was wrong. 

Dirk’s eyes opened. Assuming Dave was in his room somewhere being a giant pain in the ass, he looked to his sides, still not spotting the culprit. 

“What the fuck?” He sat up in confusion, setting his pizza aside. He heard a giggle and looked up, jumping enough to fall right out of his bed. 

Comfortably reclined against his ceiling laid a young boy. Well, not a boy necessarily, but someone Dirk’s own age. At least, he looked like it. His hair was jet black and messy, fluffed all over his face. His skin was pale, eyes a bright blue and glowing softly, and he wore the biggest grin, showing off the sharp points of his teeth.

He let out another laugh and flopped down onto Dirk’s bed, dropping from the ceiling like it were nothing. He cuddled into the bed, nuzzling a pillow before looking over at Dirk who was staring at him wide-eyed, clearly at a loss for words.

“Oh, relax. It isn’t all that surprising, but I guess you do know me better like this.” 

The boy smiled and in an instant all that was left in his place was the same doll Dirk had fixed just that morning. It stood and gestured down to its little canvas body, before hopping of the bed to get comfortable in Dirk’s lap. 

Dirk yelped and tried to push the doll off, but he had already changed back, legs wrapped around Dirk’s waist as he just grinned. 

“You’re- b-but,” Dirk fumbled through the words, “Y-you were a doll!”

“Well, yeah.” he countered, “I can be a lot of things. You don’t think I really look like this do you? It’s simple really, just a trick of the eye. It’s all in the eyes.” 

Dirk still just stared at the boy in his lap, causing the blue eyed boy to roll his eyes.

 “Calm down, will you?”  he huffed softly and removed Dirk’s shades, tossing them carelessly on the bed behind him. His eyes glowed a bit brighter as he looked into the others, brilliant blue reflecting on a fiery orange. “Relax.”

Dirk let out a soft sigh, tension leaving his shoulders as he did so. The demon smiled and papped his cheek lightly. 

“There you go. Isn’t that so much better?”

Dirk just gave a small nod. He couldn’t tell what the reason was, but he no longer was too worried about the other’s presence, simply curious.

“If you can be anything, why were you a doll? Why here? What do you really look like?”

He chuckled. “Slow down, tiger. One question at a time. “First, let’s see. Why was I a doll? Well, let’s just say I’ve been watching you two for a while now. I thought a doll would be the best way in. You fixed me up too! How sweet. As for what I look like…”

His form changed again, the form only different enough to be immediately noticeable but not to draw alarm. His ears came to a point, teeth sharpening even more than they already had been. His arms were a deep black to about halfway up, looking almost as if they were dipped in a dye. Each finger ended in a sharp claw of the same ebony hue. Two sturdy horns protruded from his hair, spiraling like corkscrews to the side of his head. 

He stood up to give Dirk a better look and some breathing room. His once human feet now resembled paws, black and covered in a soft fur-like hair and from the back of his pants, a long, black, whip-like tail flicked back and forth. 

“Why did you just now show me who you are? Why not earlier?” Dirk asked as he looked him over.

“Simple. You left me home. I was lonely.”

The demon giggled as Dirk reached a hand out to touch, the cool scaled tail wrapping lightly around the other boy’s wrist.

“Do you like it?” He inquired, tail unraveling from around the blonde’s arm and instead concentrating on weaving through Dirk’s fingers like a snake. 

“I’m not sure…” Dirk mumbled, watching his hand for a while, before looking up at him. “What’s your name?”

“I don’t think much of names. I don’t really need one, but you can call me whatever you want.”

Dirk nodded looking down at the ground for a minute. “John."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! Long time no see! When I started his chapter it felt a little off, like I was only doing it to get something out, but as I went on I liked it more and more, so I'm really sorry if you can feel that change in there too. I hope you enjoy it! As always, likes and comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading!


	4. a Demon for a roomate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> poor Dirk

“So you caused all of those problems at work then?” Dirk questioned, now laying comfortably on his bed with the young demon floating just above him. “You do know how obnoxious that is right? I’m having to close up for a few days while we get everything fixed. Do you know how much business we’ll lose over those days?”

John pouted, giving him the most innocent look he could muster. “You left me all alone, Dirk. You’re supposed to take care of me. I was soooo lonely.”

“You can take care of yourself, John.” Dirk replied with a roll of his eyes, tugging lightly on the demon’s tail. John smiled and gently floated down to lay on top of him, wings wrapping around the blonde. And tail curling around his leg. “I’m sure you’re much more powerful than I am anyway. All I’ve done to help you is sewing that arm back on when you were a doll.”

“And I appreciated that.” John nudged him gently with his horns until Dirk lifted a hand to run through his dark hair. “Only someone as kind as you would have done that, and now you have a demon at your service.”

Dirk laughed softly at that. “At my service? Sure you are. And what exactly do you want in exchange for that service, not that I even asked for it. My soul’s not up for grabs, dollface.”

He noticed John’s pupils constrict, momentarily becoming small slits in a sea of bright blue, before returning to normal as he shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. Your soul is not what I want. We’ll discuss a possible contract soon.”

Dirk felt a bit uneasy, but the feeling soon faded, switching to panic as his brother opened his door and his eyes shot over to it. 

“Dave! What have I said about knocking?!” He quickly pulled a blanket over himself, looking like a total fool seeing as the demon who once laid across him was nowhere to be seen. Dave quirked a brow as he looked at him. 

“Uhm, what exactly are you up to, cause I heard you talking to someone?”

Dirk laughed nervously and moved his covers as he felt a phone pushed under them from the opposite side of the bed. Thank you, John! 

“I was just making a phone call.” He showed him the phone and gave a very unconvincing smile. “Y’know just Roxy callin’ to check up on us. You know how she is.”

Dave looked skeptical, moving over to go sit on the edge of Dirk’s bed, closest to the wall. “Are you hiding something from me, dude? Do you have food or something?”

“No, you missed out on your chances for food last night. We were gonna have bro time, but you disappeared.”  
“I was tired.” He moved some of Dirk’s things around, looking for whatever he could be hiding. Once his blankets were pushed to the floor and his pillows were thrown out into the hallway, Dave checked under the bed where John, in a panic had changed into the first person that popped into his head. His choice could not have been worse.

Dave’s eyes went wide and he let out some horrible mix between a surprised yelp and a terrified shriek. Dirk jumped up and went to explain, not getting to it before Dave just passed out. 

John crawled out from under the bed, looking frazzled, except, it wasn’t john. When he stood up and brushed himself off, Dirk’s eyes widened. Before him stood a tall boy around his age, muscular legs shown off by shorts too short to be actually considered pants. His skin and hair were both dark, making his gorgeous green eyes, framed by glasses, stand out all the more. He rushed over to Dave, heavily accented voice panicked as he spoke.

“Oh, Dirk! I’m sorry! I panicked! I should have just left or hidden, but I changed into the first person I could think of!” As he calmed down, he realized he had no idea why Dave seemed so shocked to see a normal human. “Dirk, I didn’t look like a demon. Why was he so scared?”

John looked up at him with a frown. Dirk stayed quiet, staring down at the fists clenched tight in his lap. John’s brows furrowed and he went over to him, putting a light hand on his shoulder, wondering what the deal was. Why did everyone seem so upset. Dirk flinched away from the hand. 

“John,” His voice sounded strained, “change back.”

“What’s wrong? It’s just a-” He was cut off, Dirk looking over at him. John had never in the months of watching him seen him upset, but now he looked miserable and John still didn’t know why.

“Please. John, please.”

The dark haired boy nodded softly and changed back to his other form, tail tucked between his legs and wings folded behind his back. He sat down on the bed and Dirk shifted away. 

John stayed quiet for a minute, worried Dirk would make him leave, something at this point he had all the power to do, John really didn’t want to find someone else to stay with though. It took so long to pick the right person, and there was never any guarantee they’d let you stay. You never knew when you’d have you next conversation, or next meal. Pretty much, the process was miserable. “Who is he to you?”

Dirk swallowed thickly. “His name is Jake. I uh, dated him. For a long time actually. All through high school and college. “Dirk sniffled a bit. “I was actually going to propose to him. I had a dinner planned out and the ring, I designed it myself. It was supposed to be perfect. I offered to drive him, but he wanted to take his own car…He never showed up to dinner. I tried calling him. Hours went by before I finally heard back. It was his grandma calling to tell me he’d died.” He rubbed at his eyes as tears started to form. “He had stopped to help someone stopped on the side of the road, and some drunk asshole hit him. I know it’s been years, and I’m supposed to be over it. I’m sorry. Do uh do you think you could take Dave and leave for a bit please?”

He quietly took Dave and left the room. He felt horrible for many reasons. One, he hadn’t meant to upset the other like this. Two, he didn’t know. And three, he could reunite them easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, there readers. I know it has been a while, and for the amount of time since an update, the chapter should at least be good. I'm not so sure that it actually is. I'm sorry if this sucks.


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